To Amestris and Back
by Owls Down The Rabbit Hole
Summary: An FMA fan from Earth is sent to Amestris, will the Elric brothers be able to get her home? And accidents can happen at any time, they might end up going on a trip like their new friend, Charlotte.
1. The Story Begins

Charlotte closed her book at last. She was finally finished the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. She wanted to reread the series, but it was way too late, it would have to wait for the next day. She set the book back in it's place on her shelf and curled up in her blankets, falling asleep immediately.

…...

Charlotte slid her hand up to her face, feeling the cement beneath her. _Wait … cement?_ Charlotte wondered.

The air and cement felt damp. There was no way she was inside. She blinked and opened her eyes to see a train station. An old fashionedone with trains outside. It was a bit dark, maybe early morning? She lifted herself up on her hands to look around. She was the only one there.

Charlotte stood up and walked out of the station. It was all farmland around her with a few houses splattered across the scene, but it all seemed very familiar. She began walking along the road. She watched her surroundings carefully, as she walked, she came to a cemetary planted on a hill. At the top near the only tree there, was a person. Charlotte figured it would be the only person she may see for a while, so she hiked up the hill.

As she got closer, she figured it was most likely a guy, about her age, though the hair made him look a bit girl-ish as a silouette. He was facing a grave, his head bowed down.

Charlotte stopped a few feet away and said; "Excuse me?"

He jumped in surprise and turned to face her. Charlotte couldn't see his face too well since the rising sun was behind him, it shaded his face.

"Um … where are we?" Charlotte asked.

He cocked his head, questioningly, "Resembool, why?"

"Where's that?"

"Amestris." He said slowly.

"THAT Resembool? Wait … your voice … What's your name?"

"Edward Elric. Why? Do I know you?"

"Oh. My. God. You're Edward Elric? And we're in Amestris? I'm still asleep. I know it." Charlotte reached over and pinched her own arm.

"Did you wake up?"

"Nope. Just started bruising."

"Okay … So why is it so unbelievable to be here?"

"Uh … 'cause I've never been here before."

"So what brings you _here_?"

"I sleep walk."

"That would explain the pajamas. Where did you come from?"

"I … can't say."

Edward looked at her funnily, "well, it can't have been too far away. Do you need-"

"Nope it's really far away. Trust me."

"Alright then. Do you need a place to stay?"

"Yeah, that would be nice..."

"Okay, good luck!" He turned away and took a step, then twisted his head back with a smile, "Come on." Charlotte smiled and followed him.

"So do you have a name?"

"Yeah, I'm Charlotte."

"Any idea how you walked in your sleep here from a place very far away?"

"No, I actually have no idea how I got here. For all I know, a bunch of people kidnapped me in my sleep and dumped me here."

"Oh."

"But I doubt it."

"Okay. Any other ideas?"

"Nope."

They continued to walk in silence. The sun slowly made it over the trees as as the house Charlotte had seen in pictures and movies so many times appeared right in front of her. Ed ward waltzed onto the porch and Charlotte followed him after looking the place over a few million times, wishing she had her camera. He led her to the dining table and they sat down in the silence.

"Would you like something to eat?" Edward asked.

"No. I'm not hungry." _Probably because I'm too excited to _actually_ be here! _She thought to herself.

"Okay. Well. My friend and her grandma are still asleep, but they should be up soon. And I think my brother went out for a walk earlier without telling me. But we were planning on going back to Central today. We'll take you and see if we can get you home. Okay?"

"Alright. Thanks." Charlotte sighed, "But you probably won't."

"You're pretty negative."

"Not usually. I'm just saying you probably won't be able to get me home."

"Yeah, and I'm saying you're being negative."

"I said I'm usually not!" At that second the door slammed and Edward jumped up to go talk to who Charlotte assumed was Alphonse. She heard them whispering and a minute later a big suit of armour walked in and Edward trailed in behind.

"Hi, Charlotte. I'm Alphonse."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." She replied, surprising herself with how calm she was. Alphonse pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. It creaked from the weight of his armour.

"So, are you an alchemist?" Alphonse asked, trying to make conversation.

"I wish..."

"Well, if you want to, then why don't you?"

"Oh … um … I can't really do alchemy where I live."

"Where are you from? You don't look Ishvalan."

"Yeah, I don't live in Ishbal..."

"Where?"

"I. Can't. Say."

"Oh, sorry."

They all heard footsteps and looked over at the doorway. A sleepy Winry stood there in pajamas. "What are you guys doing? You woke me up." She said meanly then spotted Charlotte, "Oh, hi, I didn't see you."

"This is Charlotte. She's going to Central with us."

"Oh, and how do you know her?" Winry asked, waking up.

"Um … I just met her. She needs help getting home so I thought we might be able to help her." Edward said nervously, forming an idea of what would happen next.

"So you won't bring me on your adventures, but you'll bring a complete stranger." Winry said calmly, "Alright." She turned and disappeared. Alphonse and Edward turned to each other, confused, but Winry returned. With a wrench in her hand and before Edward could run, it had connected with his head.

Winry turned and smiled at Charlotte, "Hello. I'm Winry."

"OWW! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Charlotte said politely.

"WINRY! I'M BLEEDING NOW BECAUSE OF YOU! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

Winry smiled at Charlotte then turned to Edward, "Because I'm mad at you right now! And you're barely even bleeding, you baby!"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna have a major headache for the next week..." He looked at her angrily, holding his head to stop the bleeding, and they heard more footsteps.

"What are you all doing? You woke me up, you're so loud!" Granny Pinako yelled at the three.

"Good job, Ed." Winry murmured.

"YOU'RE THE ONE THAT THREW A WRENCH AT ME!" Edward yelled at Winry.

"You're the one being an idiot!" She yelled back. And Charlotte just sat in the middle of all the yelling, feeling very awkward, and wondering why she ever wanted to come.

"Who's that?" Pinako finally noticed the quiet little brunette she had never seen before sitting at her table.

"Uh, this is Charlotte. We're going to take her to Central to try and get her back home." Alphonse said once all eyes were turned onto Charlotte.

"Charlotte, hmm? Well, you'll want something to eat? Train rides can seem awefully long." Pinako asked, her motherly/grandmotherly instincts kicking in.

"No, I'm fine." Charlotte said, trying to get the attentiong away from her.

"Well, I'll make something for you to eat on the train. Winry, do you have anything she can wear? I don't think it would be approipriate for her to go traipsing around Central in pajamas." Pinako asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah, I probably have something. Come on." Winry said to Charlotte, motioning for her to follow. Charlotte got a small tour around the house, the parts of it she saw, and she was the one giving the tour, in her mind. Winry walked up to her room and picked out a sun dress she never wore, a jacket and some old, but still in good condition, boots. She looked a little mismatched but it looked better than pajamas. They went back downstairs and the boys already had their bags at the door.

The three went back outside and walked away from the house. They looked back to see Winry, Pinako and Den all on the porch, they waved and continued to the train station.

…...

"So, is there anything you can say about your home?" Alphonse asked. Charlotte knew they didn't want to push her too far, but they had to ask. The train was moving quickly but everything out the window was far away, so it went by slowly, giving Charlotte the chance to memorize it all.

"No, nothing you'll believe." Charlotte said, turning back to the window, and the boys sighed in frustration, "Fine, I'll tell you, but you won't believe me." She told them and they sat in front of her eagerly, waiting to hear, well, Alphonse seemed a little eager. "I'm from a world a LOT different from this. Our technology is a lot more advanced, except automail, we don't have that. But we can't do Alchemy either, as far as I know. Happy?"

"Are you kidding me? _That's_ what you tell us when we're trying to help you?" Edward asked, becoming really frustrated, wondering why he said he'd help her.

"It's the truth, I can't change it," Charlotte shrugged, "That's why I thought I was dreaming. In my world, this entire world is a really big thing to some people. Most people would go crazy if they came here."

"Why didn't you, if it's such a big thing to you too?" Alphonse asked, he seemed to some what believe what Charlotte was saying, which made her glad he was the way he was.

"I'm not the kind of person that would faint if they saw their heroes … or favourite celebrities." Charlotte said.

"What's your world like?"

Charlotte chuckled and looked over at Alphonse, "I wouldn't know where to begin. It's so different from here. The people in my world are kind of stupid, I guess. We've had way too many wars, people are always fighting, and just doing stupid things. They're always killing our planet, even though it's all we have, and if we hurt it enough, we'll die. That's why I like reading, it takes me some where different. There's still stupid people, but it's different. I don't want to think of what they'd be like in my world if there was such thing as Alchemy. I'm glad it doesn't exist there." She sighed at her reality, but was glad to be rid of it for a while.

"So you don't actually want to go home." Edward asked eagerly.

"If it's possible, yes, I would like to go home. I have family, Edward, I can't just leave them."

"You can just call me Ed." He said, obviously trying to change the subject. Charlotte felt guilty about it, she should have thought before she said anything about family.

"Oh, alright then … Ed." She smiled at him, to ease the tension. It took him a minute but he faintly smiled back.

…...

The ride took a while, but Charlotte was entertained by telling Alphonse about her world. Ed mostly just stared out the window, but he was listening and joined in once in a while. Ed and Al brought Charlotte to the Central Headquarters, and Charlotte felt … something she couldn't think of a name for. It was weird, having her favourite fantasy come to life.

They walked through the halls, Charlotte saw quite a few familiar faces, with weirded-out expressions when they saw her staring. Ed brought Al and Charlotte to a door and made them wait outside, they weren't part of the military, so they wouldn't be allowed in, they were lucky to be in the building.

"Do you know who he's talking to?" Charlotte asked Al.

"Yeah, it's Colonel Mustang." Al said, casually.

Charlotte gasped in excitement. Her friends wanted to meet Mustang so bad, they'd never get to, but she might! "Really? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, it says on the door." Al told her and pointed to the plaque on the door.

"Oh, I saw it. I just wasn't sure if I could believe it." Charlotte said, trying to cover up her stupid moment. The door opened and Ed walked out.

"Wait a minute, Ed!" Said a voice inside. Ed sighed and responded.

"What is it?"

"I want to meet your friend."

"Of course he does, the pervert." Ed murmured and turned to Charlotte, "Are you okay with meeting someone? We aren't telling him where you're from."

"Yeah, I'm fine with it." Charlotte said, trying to keep her cool. Ed sighed again and led her into the room.

"This is Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Colonel Mustang," Ed said, being very formal but obviously not enthusiastic, "Alright, we're done let's go."

"Hold on, Edward," Mustang stood up and walked over to the trio, examining Charlotte, "Aren't you a cutie? I think you'd look great in a mini-skirt." Charlotte looked at him judgementally, raised an eyebrow. He was exactly what she expected, but come on, he was basically hitting on a fifteen year old.

He saw her expression, and turned back to his desk, waving them away. "Alright, you're free to go." Edward left the room and waltzed out of the building, glad to be rid of the unpleasantness. Al and Charlotte finally caught up to him outside a block or so away.

"So, big brother, what are we going to do now?" Al asked.

"Well, we could research. Try and find a way back to her world. Hey, maybe we'll come across a new way to get our bodies back." Ed shrugged and continued walked towards the Military library.


	2. An Unexpected Trip

Ed and Al had been in the library almost every minute of every day for the past few weeks. They were staying at General Hughes house with Charlotte, though it seemed like Charlotte was the only guest. Charlotte had gotten to know Hughes and his family well, though. Which was something she enjoyed. She liked playing with Elicia. Gracia was really nice and taught her how to cook really well. And Maes was funny, when he wasn't shoving a picture in her face, but that wasn't very often because his family was usually close by.

Around dinner time the boys would usually return, with no leads. Ed was more and more frustrated by the day, but always started laughing, eventually. Then they'd all go to bed, so it became pretty uneventful for Charlotte after she had been there a week, once she had met everyone.

After almost a month and a half, Charlotte got fed up with not being able to sleep, and went for a walk around the house. She stepped into the hallway and kept walking until she came to the living room, where she saw a large figure sitting on the couch, looking through the window.

"Alphonse?" Charlotte wondered. He jumped and turned his head towards her.

"You're still up? It's almost midnight." He said.

"I have troubles sleeping at night. I completely forgot you can't sleep in that body, or else I would have come to talk to you sooner..."

"What do you mean, you forgot?"

"I'm from another world where you're pretty much famous, remember?"

"Oh … right," He sighed and turned back to the window, "Do you have a family? Like a good one?"

"Well, I guess. I don't have any siblings but my parents are still together."

"Oh," Alphonse said, he seemed to be daydreaming, trying to picture a completely different world than his own, "Do you have a cat?"

Charlotte giggled and nodded, "Yeah, I have a little tuxedo cat." Charlotte sauntered over to the couch and sat down beside Al. They sat for a while, no noises were heard, until Charlotte decided to ask Al something, "Why are you helping me? I mean, it's gotta be hard."

"Well, yeah, it is, but big brother really thinks we might find another way to get our bodies back. Even if we don't, we've still helped someone get back home."

"Oh, well, thanks for the help anyway."

"No problem, all we're really doing right now is reading and taking notes."

"You're lucky you only have to do that once in a while. Where I live, I have to do that almost everyday. And so does every other kid in my country."

"I don't really mind it. I learn some interesting things from it about alchemy."

"Heh. I probably wouldn't understand any of it."

"Maybe if you knew some things about alchemy, you would."

"Yeah, but I have no idea on how to do alchemy."

"Well, I could teach you a few things."

"That would be fun."

"Okay then, I'll teach you sometime tomorrow."

"Alright," Charlotte nodded excitedly, "Well, I'm gonna try and get to sleep. Good night."

"Good night, Charlotte."

…...

The next day Al came back to the Hughes household before Ed, he obviously felt bad about it, but he wasn't a man to go back on his word, and he might not have gotten many other chances.

He taught Charlotte the basics of alchemy, then taught her how to draw a transmutation circle properly, while Elicia watched, fascinated, but clueless. Al prompted Charlotte to transmute something. She thought of something to make and went straight to it. A doll slowly grew from the ground, when she was done, Charlotte picked it up and turned to Elicia. Elicia's face became ecstatic and she took the doll, then hugged it. Without her notice, a few stitches broke, but it still held together.

"That was great, Charlotte!" Al said, exciteably, "Should we try again?" Charlotte nodded, eager to perfect her alchemy. Bit by bit, they pieced together an entire dollhouse for Elicia. Anything that could break, could also be easily fixed, especially by an alchemist. By the time Ed returned, the three were sitting in the backyard, playing together, and Gracia called them into the house for dinner.

They all cleaned their plates (except Al, who had no plate), Ed and Charlotte said their thanks to Gracia for the meal and she went to put Elicia to bed.

"So how's the research for the stone going?" Hughes asked as he leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

"Nowhere. We haven't found anything." Ed told him, a little aggravated.

"I should say. I heard you two haven't been researching anything to do with the stone in the past few weeks."

"Where did you hear that!" Ed wondered loudly.

"Quiet! Or else Elicia won't be able to sleep! She's at her cutest when she is well rested!" Hughes proclaimed, "Anyway, that's not important. What is important is what you're researching... Come on. What is it?"

Ed and Al didn't seem too eager to say anything, so it decided to fly out of Charlotte's mouth. "They're searching for a way to get me home and a different way to get their bodies back!" Charlotte didn't mean to say it, she covered her mought as soon as she finished, but she couldn't resist Hughes. "I'm not really from here, not even from this world."

"Charlotte!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to tell him!"

Hughes' eyebrows rose in question, "What do you mean?"

"Nevermind. She just day dreams a lot. She's come up with some pretty interesting ideas. Trust me." Edward tried to cover up for her. Hughes didn't seem to buy it, but didn't want to press them on the subject.

"It's true! I bet you wouldn't be able to believe some of it was possible!"

He sighed, "Alright, then," He stood up and walked to the stairs, but stopped before he said, "Anything is possible." Then he continued upstairs to his daughter's room. Once his footsteps were heard on the floor above them, Ed turned to Charlotte with a death look.

"I'm sorry, Ed, it just came out. They're such nice people. And I know we can trust them."

"How do you know for sure? Under the right circumstances, he might say something."

"I can't say how I know." Charlotte looked away guiltily, knowing Hughes' fate.

Edward sighed, angry and frustrated, but he set that aside and said; "I think I might've found something today. Our research might not go to waste." Charlotte looked at him hopefully, he stood up, "I'm going to bed. I want an early start tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night!" Charlotte and Al chimed in together.

Later in the night, Charlotte lie in bed. She thought about what happened after dinner. She felt bad for telling Hughes, but she knew he'd take it to the grave if he had to. The fact forced her to remember what would happen to him, but as she thought about it, she thought maybe he wouldn't die so soon because Charlotte had been there and changed the course of the 'storyline'. And that gave her a pass to a good night sleep.

…...

A few days later, Ed and Al came home early, Ed walked up to Charlotte with a folder under his arm. He smiled, "I think we found a way to get you home." Charlotte's eyes widened and she started jumping around in excitement.

"Oh, my gosh! I'm going home! I wonder what happened while I was gone. I wonder how much my mom missed me. I think school started already, I wonder where everyone thinks I went. I wonder how my kitty is doing. What about my cousins? I hope nobody did anything to room. Or my laptop..." She continued ranting until she remembered the boys and Elicia were still there.

"Y- You're leaving?" Elicia asked, tearing up a bit. Charlotte felt bad and knelt down next to the little girl.

"Yeah, I'm leaving. I want to stay but I have family and friends that miss me, okay? Just remember that I really liked playing with you and I'll miss you. But I'm not leaving right now, I'll leave tonight. Then we can play a bit more. Is that okay with you?"

Elicia sniffled, but nodded, then went to grab her dolls for them to play with.

Elicia didn't leave Charlotte's side for the rest of the day. She made sure they spent the last of Charlotte's time in Amestris together. She very reluctantly went with her parents to go to bed, after yelling and screaming that she didn't want to sleep because then she would wake up and Charlotte would be gone. She never wanted to sleep again. Charlotte felt bad for leaving the child on such short notice. So while the boys set up the special circle in the backyard, she transmuted a few different little things for the girl.

"Charlotte!" Al called her over to their alchemy-cleared area where a bunch of lines came together to form a very intricate circle.

"Uh … we need to put your blood in the center to tell it what world you need to go to, because if there's two, then there's gotta be a lot more." Ed explained to her as he drew a knife out of his pocket. Charlotte nodded, a little fearful, but if it would get her home...

He cut the tip of her just a little, she barely felt it, but blood rose to the surface immediately. She bent over the center of the circle and let a few drops fall to the ground, then squeezed her finger to stop the blood. Ed and Al knelt on the ground to transmute, Charlotte stood there, waved good-bye to them, silently thanking them, then closed her eyes while they 'worked their magic'.

…...

Charlotte heard breathing behind her, but didn't open her eyes. She was laying in very soft, thick grass. She took a while, but remembered all that had happened and immediately opened her eyes and sat up.

It was still a little dark, but the sun was slowly rising. She couldn't make out her surroundings too well yet, but would be able to soon. She looked around, trying to figure out what was breathing next to her. She had to look closely, but realized it was Edward! She gasped, wondering what had gone wrong, and whether they were even in her home world. She gently shook his shoulder, an attempt to wake him up.

"Elicia! … I want to sleep more... go play with your dolls..." He grumbled and rolled over in the grass.

"Ed, I'm not Elicia. Now get up."

"Al? What's wrong? Why are you trying to wake me up so early?" He seemed determined to continue his slumber.

"I'm not Al! It's Charlotte! And I have no idea where we are!"

He turned onto his back and rubbed his eyes groggily, "Charlotte? But we sent you back to your world... didn't we?"

"I don't know! Get up! I don't know where Al is!"

"Al?" He sat up, his head almost colliding with Charlotte's.

"Maybe his body couldn't make the trip, alchemy doesn't work here..."

"Hey! I think I see something over there!" He stood up and ran away from her, Charlotte lifted herself up and followed, stopping beside him. His mouth was gaping, and his eyes were wide in disbelief. Charlotte peered into the dark grass and realized what the lump there was.

Alphonse Elric lied in the grass, in his original body, sleeping happily. Charlotte dropped down beside him and woke him up as well.

"Charlotte?" He asked, sleepily.

"Yeah, it's me... But look at your hands."

"My hands..." He raised them in front of his face and wiggled his fingers. It took him a minute, but he realized what he was seeing, "My hands! I- I'm not a suit of armour anymore!" He yelled in excitement and hugged Charlotte, as tears welled up in his eyes, "I- I'm actually crying! I can eat now! And sleep! Big brother!" Al looked up at his brother, who was still looking at him, amazed. "Hey, Ed. Is your automail gone?" Ed came out of his trance when Al said his name. He pulled up his right sleeve to reveal flesh. Then sat in the grass with his brother and Charlotte, pulled off his boot to see his toes once again.

He looked up at Al, mouth still open and mind still shocked. Al lunged at him, hugging him to death, "Big brother, I'm so happy! This is the best day ever!" They let go of each other, and the three sat in the grass with smiles on their faces. The was higher, and it was easier to see. Neither of the boys recognized the place at all, and turned to Charlotte.

"I think …. I think this is the soccer field down the street from my house..."


	3. A New Enemy

They waited until it was later in the morning, a more reasonable time to be knocking on a door. They sat on the benches to the side of the field. And just waited. Until Charlotte heard footsteps inside. She knocked on the door and waited for one of her parents to answer.

Her opened the door after unlocking it, "Charlotte, what are you doing out here? And why are you up so early?" She asked, very confused about what her daughter had been doing. Especially with two boys.

"Mom, I've been gone for weeks. Of course I'm outside."

Her mother chuckled, still confused, "Uh … you've been gone from school for almost two months, but, uh, that really doesn't have anything to do with you being outside with two boys."

Now Charlotte was getting confused, "What's the date today?"

"It's August twenty ninth, sweetie, why?"

Charlotte realized that was the day following her completion of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, "Oh … uh … no reason, just wondering. Um …." She tried to think up a story, "These are a couple of my friends. They wanted to meet me outside and I forgot my key. They were wondering if they could stay here for a while." Charlotte already knew it would be okay. Her parents were wealthy, not millionaires, but they had plenty of extra cash and room to spare.

"Sure, I guess it's okay. We can get a room ready for them when I get home from work."

Charlotte smiled, thankful for her parents generosity, "Thanks, mom." She nodded and Charlotte turned to beckon the brothers inside.

…...…...…...

While her parents were at work, Charlotte ended up having to teach the boys about almost every little thing they saw.  
>"What's that?" Alphonse kept asking. And Charlotte kept answering.<p>

"It's called a television."

"What's it do?"

"It's like a radio but with moving pictures."

"Woow!" Charlotte walked to the t.v. And pressed a button, the screen was dark for a second but then Alphonse's old armour flashed across the screen. "Is that me?" Alphonse asked, unsure what to think.

"Yeah … like I said in Amestris, you guys are famous in this world."

"Wow." Charlotte pressed a button on the dvd player and the animated, metallic Alphonse started moving. She didn't bother turning on the sound, Al was fascinated by it without the sound. Ed was on her laptop, she showed him a few basics on how to maneuver the internet, he seemed to get it now, it looked like he had known about this stuff all his life. Charlotte looked over his shoulder and saw he was looking up alchemy and himself and Al.

"It's even called Fullmetal Alchemist, here? Are you sure they don't just have a spy that follows us around in Amestris?"

"Nah, the series is finished already, there's no way they could know how it finishes if they just followed you around."

"Well, it can't be coincidence! Everything is exactly the same up until we meet you."

"I guess that must be the difference. I someone had been following you around, they would have episodes with me in them and you coming back home with me on accident. But it doesn't really fit in with the storyline."

Charlotte heard the front door open. She knew right away her mother was home for lunch and then to go shopping for school, the new school year was approaching quickly, so she ran up the stairs to greet her.

"Hi mom!"

"Hi, honey. Are you ready to go shopping this afternoon?"

"Of course."

"Well, I was wondering if your friends are coming to school with you. Have they ever been to school?"

"Not one around here. And I was wondering if you could enroll them. They'll be able to keep up with our classes, they're pretty smart. And we can just say they were home schooled and then they can ask for whatever help they need."

"I guess I can do that."

"And can you ask to get us put in the same classes? I'm the only person they know here and then I can help them, too."

"Alright, I'll try my best." Her mother smiled. They made lunch together and called the boys up to eat. Al practically shoved every bit in his mouth, then Ed teased him because he probably didn't taste it. Then all four of them piled into the car to start their shopping. During the entire ride, each of the boys took turns pointing at things inside and outside of the car, asking what they were.

Charlotte's mother parked the car in front of the mall. She handed Charlotte some money for clothes and school supplies for her and the boys, then told them she had some errands to do. Charlotte felt a little disappointed in her mother, but she had known her mom wouldn't stick around the entire time, if at all, but she was doing Charlotte and the boys a favour with their classes and everything, anyway. So Charlotte led the brothers into the mall as her mother drove away.

They decided to get their supplies first, then buy new clothes for the boys. They went to a dollar store inside the mall to things like pencils and erasers, then went to one of the bigger stores for backpacks and binders.

After that, Charlotte brought them to clothing store and helped them pick out new clothes. She gave them a bunch of jeans to try on, then let them pick out a few shirts to try. The brothers tried their first outfit on and came out, trying to shift the jeans around to make the more comfortable.

"These pants feel weird!" Al said.

"Alright … then try these out." Charlotte sighed and ripped a couple of cargo pants off the racks and handed them to Ed and Al. They changed in the stalls and came back out, looking a bit more comfortable.

"These are better." Al said.

"Yeah, but they still feel weird." Ed agreed.

"Well, I don't think many stores will have what you guys wear in Amestris. Nineteen-ten was a hundred years ago here."

"Why are we doing this, anyway?" Ed asked.

"You're coming to school with me." Charlotte told him.

"But that'll just waste our time. We need to figure out how to get back!"

"I figured this way you could learn things about this world that might help you. Plus, if you don't go to school, my mom will get suspicious."

Ed groaned and mumbled "Fine." then went to try on some more clothes.

…...

It was finally the first day of school, the few days before seemed to drag on. Charlotte was having loads of fun with Ed and Al, and it was pretty interesting to teach them new things about her world, but she wanted to get back to school, too.

The trio walked to the school, a bit nervous about the day ahead. Ed and Al had stopped asking so many questions because they knew what almost everything was by then. Charlotte opened the front door and shuffled the boys inside. A lot of people were giving them weird looks, probably only because Ed had insisted on wearing his red coat. They went to the table in the front foyer, near the office to pick up their time tables.

Like Charlotte had asked her mother, they all had the same classes together. Her mother had enrolled the boys as twins, so they were also in the same grade, they pulled it off well enough. Charlotte helped the boys find their lockers, they shoved everything in and practiced opening the locks one more time, then they headed to their first class.

"Why is it called English class? Are we just learning English?" Edward asked and Alphonse nodded, saying he wanted to know as well.

"Well, yeah, I guess we learn English in this class." Charlotte replied.

"Are there people here that don't know English?"

"No, it's a pretty small town."

"Then why do we need to learn English? I already know it! So do you and Alphonse!" They took three seats at the front of the classroom, it was empty so far, everyone was still catching up in the halls.

"We do more than that! Besides, you have NO idea how illiterate these people are."

"What else do you do?"

"I don't know, Ed! Whatever the teacher has planned, just do your work, hand stuff in on time, you'll be fine."

"I still don't think it should it should be called 'English.'" Ed said stubbornly and crossed his arms.

"In elementary school they call it language arts. Is that better?" Charlotte told him then folded her arms across her chest, like Ed. She looked over at him, he was still turned away from her and Al, "I know you don't want to be here. But the only way to go to the science classes is to be enrolled. Plus, now we also have the library books to search through."

"We're just wasting time in here!" Ed said as the teacher walked in. She ignored what he said and continued to her desk, "We could be finding a way home instead of being here!"

"We'll go to the library during lunch, okay?"

"Fine." Ed turned away again, so Charlotte turned to Al and started talking to him.

…...

In the library after two of their classes were over, Charlotte, Ed and Al had pulled out every book that sounded useful to them and were sitting around one book filled table, skimming through the words to find bits of useful information. At one point, one of the libraries went over to them and asked what they could be researching on the first day of school. Charlotte made up the excuse that they were trying to decide what they could study in college, since they had no idea.

The librarian smiled happily and returned to her desk as the front door to the library swung open. Charlotte spotted him first and hid behind the books.

"What's wrong?" Alphonse asked her, with no clue that she could be hiding from someone.

"Pretend I'm not here!" She whispered desperately.

"But you are here!"

"Well, then pretend I'm not!" She told him, Al nodded and went back to reading his book. Charlotte looked over the tops of the books, but she could not seen the boy anywhere. She cursed, angry she had lost him, he was probably somewhere else in the library, about to find her. . .

"Hey, Charlotte!" A hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, it pulled her up close to his body.

"Devon! Leave me alone."

"You know, I didn't expect to find you in here."

"Well, I _do_ like to read. You would have known that if you actually tried to get to know me."

"I did try! But you kept pushing me away."

"Like I am now?" Charlotte said, literally trying to get away from him, but it wasn't working, he was much stronger than her.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Alphonse finally yelled at Devon, Charlotte wished he had stepped in a bit sooner, maybe before he grabbed her wrist. Ed poked his head around the stack of books to see what was going on. He stood up and joined all of them.

"Stay out of this, nerds."

"Hey, those _nerds_ are my friends, and they're a lot better friends than you! Now let go of me!"

Devon would not loosen his grip, as much as Charlotte tried to wiggle around. "Hey! She told you to let go of her!" Ed and Al yelled at him. The librarian came back over and told them to be quiet, she was completely oblivious to the fact that a fight might break out in her library at any minute.

"Kid, she's MY girlfriend! I'll do whatever the hell I want!"

"I am NOT your girlfriend!"

"Oh, yeah?" He grabbed her shoulders suddenly and forced her into a kiss. Ed finally lost it and shoved Devon to the ground, knocking over a few chairs as he did.

"Get off of me, shrimp!" Devon shouted at Ed before he had even hit him.

"DON'T EVER CALL ME SHRIMP!" Ed yelled angrily and raised his fist to hit Devon.

"Big brother! Stop!" Al and Charlotte did their best to pull Ed off Devon before he hit him and they were all sent to the principal's office.

"Ed, just leave him alone. You're better than him." Charlotte said as they watched Devon get back onto his feet.

"Whatever, Char. Next time I see you, pipsqueak, I'm going to kill you for that." Devon told him and stomped out of the library.

"Charlotte are you okay?" Al asked her.

"I'm fine. Ed, are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine. Who was that guy anyway?"

"He's my ex-boyfriend. He's a complete jerk. I don't know why even dated him. I don't know why anyone ever would. And don't worry about the whole I'm going to kill you thing. He couldn't take down a six year old girl if he tried. Imagine how screwed he be against either of you."


End file.
